JOST CAPITO INTERVIEW
24 APRIL 2 019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 51
hile some senior car company
executives spend their entire career
with one manufacturer, the ones
who bounce around the industry
t e nd t o e nd up w it h t he mor e
interesting tales. None has packed more into their
professional life than Jost Capito, today head of
Volkswagen’s R GmbH performance division
but w it h a C V t h at s e e m s t o b e pr e t t y muc h a l l
highlights. Now a youthful 60, the German says he
hopes to end his career at Volkswagen but admits
that his non-linear life has been fun.
The biggest adventures came early on. As a
teenager Capito had been a successful endurance
bike racer and – as a young graduate engineer at
BMW – he and his father entered the Paris-Dakar
rally in a Unimog, winning the truck class in 1985.
“I learned a huge amount about teamwork,” he
says, “but I had taken my whole year’s vacation.
I came back and was completely destroyed, with
no holiday for the rest of the year.”
He h a d joi ne d BM W f r om u n i v e r sit y d r i v e n b y
his passion to work at M division under legendary
engine designer Paul Rosche. His first project was
the four-cylinder engine for the E30 M3 – Capito
did the intake and exhaust manifolds. He started
to climb the corporate ladder but was wary of
specialising too soon – Rosche’s nickname in
German translates as ‘Camshaft Paul’ – so in
1989 he t o ok up a n of fe r t o mov e t o Por s c he ’s r a c e
department. Capito was responsible for the one-
make cars and soon found buyers lobbying for
road-going versions. “There was so much demand
t h at w e pu she d t he b oa rd u nt i l t he y gav e u s
approval,” he remembers. “It was the 964 RS, the
first road car from the Race division. I promised to
s e l l 14 0 0 c a r s a nd w e e nde d up m a k i n g 5 0 0 0.”
Next came a lateral move to Sauber, specifically
Sauber Petronas Engineering, which was charged
w it h mov i n g P r ot on b e y ond it s e a rl y t e c h n ic a l
alliance with Mitsubishi. Capito led development
of an all-new 2.0-litre engine, and although
t h i s d id n’t m a k e pr o duc t ion h i s sk i l l s at pr oje c t
management were noticed and he was made COO
of the Sauber F1 team in 1998. He was the man who
si g ne d up a y ou n g Fi n n c a l le d K i m i R ä i k k öne n.
But t he n Ford c a me k no c k i n g w it h a n of fe r
Capito couldn’t refuse. “Martin Leach approached
me, they wanted to get ST and RS launched
properly, to bring them back,” he recalls.
The problem was that the first Focus RS had
already been mostly developed by the time Capito
joined in 2001, and it was both over-budget and
behind schedule. Sales weren’t good enough
to warrant the cost of developing a version of
the Mk2, so Capito found a way of short cutting
Ford’s cautious decision making. “We did the five-
cylinder Focus ST and it was successful,” he says.
“But I k ne w i f I s a id I w a nt e d t o do a n R S it w ou ld
b e no. S o I s a id I w a nt e d t o do a n ST Plu s , t o bu i ld
on what was already successful. Then when the
car was developed we said ‘ST Plus isn’t much of a
n a me – w e shou ld c a l l it t he R S!’ ”
H i s r ole e x pa nde d t o b e c ome g loba l. T he
W
Ford F150 Raptor and Mustang Shelby GT500
were developed on his watch and he became
increasingly involved with motorsport, especially
the WRC. “In 2006 and 2007 we won the
manufacturers’ championship, but that was with
an external team,” he says, recalling M-Sport’s
s uc c e s s. “ T he ne x t s t e p w a s ob v iou sl y t o do it
with a works team, and that’s when Volkswagen
approached me.”
Capito led the WRC team throughout a period of
dominance, taking four drivers’ and constructors’
championships in a row. “It was like a dream,” he
admits. “I think the most rewarding time of my
career, of all of it.”It also led onto another radical change in
direction, with Capito recruited by McLaren to
head the Formula 1 team in 2016. It should have
been the pinnacle of his career, but he ended up
leaving just three months later.
“I had agreed what I was going to do with Ron
[Dennis],” Capito says. “But then he was gone and
it didn’t make any sense. People thought I was
really close to Ron. I wasn’t, I just liked working
with him and we had a good plan to get the team
back to success. The other guys had a completely
different opinion, and I said ‘I can only take
responsibility if I can be in charge’.”
Capito insists he has no hard feelings, not least
as his departure brought him straight back to
Volkswagen. “[CEO Herbert] Diess had said I
c ou ld a l w ay s c ome ba c k – a s s o on a s he he a rd I w a s
leaving he asked if I wanted to help set R up.”
Capito is planning a significant increase in
R-branded vehicles, confirming that we can
expect many of VW’s bigger models to spawn
p e r for m a nc e de r i v at i v e s. He ’s a l s o h app y t o b e
involved in the push to electrification. “To be part
of that transformation and see how it works from
t he p e r for m a nc e side i s r e a l l y e xc it i n g,” he s ay s.Capito’s enthusiasm is unforced and – from
conversations with underlings and colleagues – he
seems to be almost universally well regarded. He
admits he regards himself as being lucky in terms
of his career. “I had really great bosses, pretty
much all of them. I don’t think I would have played
much differently with another chance.”
Does he have any regrets?
“Yes, I didn’t keep any of the cars I was involved
in. Just imagine an E30 M3, a 964 RS, a Raptor,
a Focus RS500,” he says. “It wouldn’t be a bad
collection. I was in charge of the Streetka, too –
there would even be a convertible!” L
VOLKSWAGEN
T-ROC R
Year 2019
Power 296bhp
Value now tbc
JOST THE
BOSS
GREATEST HITS
BMW E30 M 3
Year 1986
Power 200bhp
Value now £45,000
PORSCHE 964 RS
Year 1992
Power 260bhp
Value now
£180,000-plus
FORD FOCUS
RS500
Year 2010Power 345bhp
Value now £35,000
FORD F150
RAPTOR
Year 2010
Power 405bhp
Value now na
SHELBY GT500
Year 2012
Power 653bhp
Value now na
Jost Capito now heads VW’s R performance division
Success^ in^ the
WRC^ with^ Ford^ led
to a^ VW^ roleCapito and dad took a win
in the ’ 85 Paris-Dakar